Dingle Time!!

Dingle, It is!

Ok, so we didn’t make it to Dingle yesterday but today is the day! We didn’t want to eat breakfast at the hotel in Kells Bay so we agreed to meet up around 8 and get on over to Dingle for breakfast.

We got right on the road and before long we were in Dingle. We noticed right away there were a lot of cars around and eventually, we found out why. It was the morning of a major adventure race! We came across runners and bicyclists. We thought it was a triathlon — but later found out it was more! They also hiked and kayaked. What a great race. Interestingly, they didn’t close the roads. The poor racers were right there with the car traffic — yikes. So, the tiny town was swamped ... and there we were!

We found an adorable little place for breakfast. We sat on the back patio enjoying our coffees and food. We decided we better leave the car where we parked it since the place was so packed and we set out walking and popping into the cute little shop lined streets. 

I was stoked to make it to the distillery but we pretty much needed to make the loop around town before we got there. We got to walk near the finish line and really enjoyed the buzz of the small own alive with the race. 

We crossed a way too tiny little bridge and made it to the semi famous Dingle Distillery— just in time to learn they were booked up for the day and closing early since it was Sunday. Oh no!!! :( By this time, everyone had gotten their fill from shopping and the crowds and mom wasn’t sure she wanted to work up the hill back to the car so Sara, Jason and Ash set off to get the car and mom and I waited at the roundabout and watched the race continue on. 

Since  we ate breakfast late, no one was hungry for lunch and we decided to power on towards Limerick. In the perfect storm of all things, as we approached Limerick, suddenly, everyone was starving and had to pee. Plus, it was the biggest town we’d seen in days and the traffic was crazy. Our route of travel took us straight into downtown and we couldn’t find a place to park or decide were we wanted to go. It was quickly frustrating trying to navigate it all. 

After about 10 minutes, we decided to just head towards our house for the night. Just before leaving town, we came across a grocery store and decided to pull over to pee and load up on snacks and wine for a dinner at the house in the country.

The grocery store was interesting — a really big store and not one single bathroom. We had to leave the store, walk down the strip center to a small restaurant and use their bathroom. When Ash and Mom got there, they were closing up citing some, “trouble outside.” We never understood what the trouble was but nothing was apparent to us!!

We stocked up on all kinds of delicious cheese and crackers and Dingle gin — the distillery might have been closed but by golly were were going to taste it! Also, some wine. We set off looking for the address we’d been anticipating the whole time — old hurling field! At that time, we had no clue what that meant and didn’t care. It was just a cool sounding name.

We arrived shortly to an adorable house just out in the country. To our delight, they also had 3 dogs who were so excited to see us. The owners were staying on property and came to greet us and then let us be. We spread out — another place with all the bedrooms on one floor (this time the upper floor) and the living space on the ground level. We met up in the kitchen for gin and tonics and OH MY GOSH the Dingle gin was amazing. Everyone was in love. Since we didn’t have lunch, we tore into the cheese and crackers, olives, bread and butter. The dairy products in Ireland are absolutely incredible. The fave of the night was a blue cheese from Cashel — insane!!! 

After dinner, Jason played fetch with the littlest dog for quite some time. We later found him carrying around a brick in his mouth and trying to bury it. He was a jack Russell, so that was quite a feat! 

We had trouble figuring out how to make the dang toilets flush. We’re learning plumbing is interesting here. Finally, Sara had to ping the owner to come show us how to make the toilets flush. (Pump the handle fast 3-4 times and then it goes....sometimes:) ) 

While the setting of the house was lovely outside of town, no one slept well. The beds were really uncomfortable and the pillows were like gravel. Such a bummer. The house also wasn’t as clean as we were used to— I wouldn’t call it dirty, but it was clearly not fresh and clean. We had to wash the dishes we used first, as an example. Pretty odd!

We retired somewhat early — eager to head out the next day and move on towards Galway.